San Jose State one of two winless teams in college football

Spartans edged 16-13 by Aztecs in road loss

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SAN DIEGO, CA – OCTOBER 20: Justin Holmes #9 of the San Jose State Spartans catches ball in the first half against Darren Hall #23 of the San Diego State Aztecs at SDCCU Stadium on October 20, 2018 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kent Horner/Getty Images)

SAN DIEGO — There are two winless teams in college football, and San Jose State is one of them.

The Spartans (0-7) almost parted company with Texas-El Paso (0-7) on Saturday night before falling 16-13 to San Diego State. It would have been a huge victory, not solely for the obvious reason. A six-loss team hadn’t beaten a one-loss (or undefeated) team since 1998 (Temple over Virginia Tech) according to CBS Sports.

“We stood toe-to-toe for a full four quarters against the best team in the conference,” Spartans coach Brent Brennan said. “Our team has to feel good about that. They never stop fighting or battling and I’m proud of this team.”

As with many SJSU games this season, you either get an energized start or a flat opening, nothing in-between. Against the Aztecs (6-1, 3-0 Mountain West), the Spartans were energetic and ready to play.

They took a 3-0 lead, doubled it and stayed ahead for 11 minutes, their longest stretch on the winning side with one exception. The Spartans led for 32 consecutive minutes in their 44-41 overtime loss to Hawaii. Incidentally, Texas-El Paso has held the lead in only two games, for a total of 23 minutes (of a possible 420).

By the time the second quarter was underway, the Aztecs’ power run game started to shake off some of the Spartans’ energy. A 17-play, 75-yard drive put the Aztecs in the lead 7-6. They led 10-6 at halftime.

The second half was highlighted by the Aztecs’ power running style, great Spartan defense and Love leading the Spartan offense on a time-consuming TD scoring drive which was their first touchdown since the third quarter against Colorado State two weeks ago.

“The Aztec defense is the hardest defense we could possibly face.” said Love, who completed 26 of 36 passes for 215 yards. “So much movement. They have some stud backers. We call it the Aztec when their safety comes in to fill the box, but our coaches and scout team did a great job preparing us.”

The Spartans and Aztecs went into the fourth quarter tied at 13.

So where did it go wrong?

On a third-and-15 play, Love’s deep pass was intercepted by Tariq Thompson and returned 41 yards to the 50. Tack on another 15 yards for a horse-collar penalty, San Diego State was starting its possession 35 yards from paydirt.

The Spartans defense pushed SDSU back to the 45 before allowing an 11-yard run by quarterback Ryan Agnew. That put the ball at the 34 and it was from there that John Baron converted a 51-yard field goal attempt with 4:36 to play.

The Spartans didn’t fold. They drove to the SDSU 35, where they faced a 3rd-and-1. Tyler Nevens was stopped for no gain and, rather than rolling the dice on a 52-yard field goal attempt, Brennan rolled the dice on 4th-and-1.

Malike Robinson was thrown for a 1-yard loss.

The run game is clearly broken. The Spartans netted just 62 yards on 34 attempts (1.8 yard average) and three times couldn’t gain a yard when it desperately needed one. In the second quarter, they had been at the SDSU 1, with a chance to go ahead 10-0, when Nevens was stopped.

The Spartans’ propensity to commit major (and avoidable) penalties at the worst time also was costly. In addition to the horsecollar flag that set up SDSU for the winning field goal, there had been a roughing-the-passer call that nullified a stop on 3rd-and-goal and resulted in the touchdown that put SDSU ahead 7-6.

So what’s next?

Nevada-Las Vegas comes to Spartan Stadium next Saturday with a 2-5 record and a four-game losing streak.

The rest of the schedule: at Wyoming (2-6); at Utah State (6-1); vs. Nevada (4-4); and at Fresno State (6-1).

The Spartans better get one of the next two because Texas-El Paso plays Rice (1-7) on November 3. This Saturday, the Miners play Alabama-Birmingham (6-1).